Help sexing and identifying my chicks.(PICS)

[marlene]

Hello everyone, hoping you good people with more experience than myself can help me.
I have 2 silkies (yes i know they are hard to sex) that i need help with sexing, they are just over 12 weeks old and i really do not have a clue except for 1 has a much larger comb that is starting to change colour so i suspect that 1 is a roo, the other 1 has a much smaller comb and no wattles to speak of, oh and the 1st one has no wattles at all aswel so its throwing me a bit.
The other 2 pictures i will put up are of 2 marans i have, i ordered some black copper marans eggs from ebay and only 2 out of 12 hatched.
I was surprise when they hatched as i was gold coloured chick, people on here told me it could be a wheaton but as it turns out i think it is a splash.
I am so surprised that the splash is double the size of the other chick, also the splash is now getting quite a bit of copper coming in, is this normal for a splash to also have copper colouring?
I am almost sure the splash is a roo and the bcm is a pullet, can someone please tell me about the colouring of them and if my predictions of their sex is right. The marans are 7 weeks old today.
Thank you for the help you might be able to offer.
silkie 1

silkie 2

marans, notice the copper on the splash and is that colouring true for bcm?

 

[aoxa]

I'm going to say - I have no idea for the silkies. They are not true to type. The hatchery silkies are more difficult to determine because they all seem to have a small crest that is slicked back (like a male) even if they are female. The first one looks more like a roo than the second.

ETA: Yes, after I looked at the images closer, the second one DOES appear to be a girl. Though I am still undecided with the first. I have a silkie hen that has a decent sized comb under her fluff. She is a girl. Could you get some more pictures of the first one? How does she/he act? I find the males stand really tall compared to the girls. Even at a young age.

The BCM is a male. I don't know if that colour on his wings is supposed to happen, I'll let others answer, but he definitely looks like a boy!

 

[marlene]

To be honest i have not noticed any difference in the silkies, they pretty much act the same. I did question the quality of these 2 silkies, i hatched them from eggs bought from ebay and the 1st thing i noticed when they had hatched was that they only had 4 toes and not the normal 5 silkies normally have.
What do you people think of the size difference between the marans?, the splash is massive compared to the black copper one.
Look forward to hear what others say about these chicks.

 

[aoxa]

Quote:
Is it possible that the smaller one is a bantam, or a mixed? I know nothing about marans, but the bigger one is definitely a boy. No girl would have that size of comb at this age.

The smaller one does appear to be female though.

I would avoid getting eggs from the same person again. Obviously they did not have quality silkies. Not that yours are not sweet. Even my silkie who is not up to type (has light coloured skin), is prettier than these two (really don't mean to be offensive!)

I really hope they feather out better.

This is the only silkie I have that has a defect (being the light skin). She has all her toes.


Looks like your silkies were mixed somewhere in their background.

 

[marlene]

Quote:
Is it possible that the smaller one is a bantam, or a mixed? I know nothing about marans, but the bigger one is definitely a boy. No girl would have that size of comb at this age.

The smaller one does appear to be female though.

I would avoid getting eggs from the same person again. Obviously they did not have quality silkies. Not that yours are not sweet. Even my silkie who is not up to type (has light coloured skin), is prettier than these two (really don't mean to be offensive!)

I really hope they feather out better.

http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad326/aoxa/IMG_0606-1.jpg
This is the only silkie I have that has a defect (being the light skin). She has all her toes.


Looks like your silkies were mixed somewhere in their background.

I am not offended, i value your honest opinion, fortunatelly i did not get silkies for showing as otherwise i would of been very upset, they are just purely for my enjoyment or as some would say "garden ornaments" lol.
I have had really bad luck buying eggs from ebay, will in the future buy hatching eggs locally so i can see the quality of the breeds they come from.

 

[aoxa]

Quote:
Is it possible that the smaller one is a bantam, or a mixed? I know nothing about marans, but the bigger one is definitely a boy. No girl would have that size of comb at this age.

The smaller one does appear to be female though.

I would avoid getting eggs from the same person again. Obviously they did not have quality silkies. Not that yours are not sweet. Even my silkie who is not up to type (has light coloured skin), is prettier than these two (really don't mean to be offensive!)

I really hope they feather out better.

http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/ad326/aoxa/IMG_0606-1.jpg
This is the only silkie I have that has a defect (being the light skin). She has all her toes.


Looks like your silkies were mixed somewhere in their background.

I am not offended, i value your honest opinion, fortunatelly i did not get silkies for showing as otherwise i would of been very upset, they are just purely for my enjoyment or as some would say "garden ornaments" lol.
I have had really bad luck buying eggs from ebay, will in the future buy hatching eggs locally so i can see the quality of the breeds they come from.

If you were near me, I would give you free silkie chicks

I feel bad that you don't have the little fluff balls silkies are loved for.

Hopefully they make up for it in personality. My silkie rooster is one of my favourites.

I could try to help you pick out key traits on a rooster to look at your own and say: "Oh yeah.. I see." Roosters will have streamers.

As shown in this image. See his crest and how there are longer strands sticking out? This is an early detector for possible cockerel.
My roo also holds his tail much higher than the girls.

Notice how this hen is low to the ground? The roosters will be higher up. Their chest will be thick. Their hackle feathers (on their neck) will be coarse and rough.

 

[marlene]

Thank you aoxa for your help and the lovely pictures. I will definatelly go and give them a really good look over now that you have pointed out what to look for.

 

[aoxa]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=609085

I just posted this 'how to'

I know a lot of people are asking the same questions. I hope some of these help you!

Are you able to keep roosters if one of them turns out to be one? I know how attached you can get to chickens. No matter how hard you try not to

 

[mama24]

I would assume the copper is normal on a splash copper marans. I think the splash gene only affects the blue black splash part of the bird, so the copper would still be as vibrant as it would be on a blue or black copper. I am really no expert, just saying what I think based on what I've seen. I would look up pics of blue copper marans and see what they look like. My BCM cockerels (I have my first bcm's 3.5 mos old) both have the dark copper on their wings, hackles and saddles while the pullets only have it on their necks.

But your boy definitely looks blue to me, not splash. I would say he is a blue copper Marans, not splash.

 

[DMRippy]

I am by no means an expert, but that Marans Roo look like a Blue... but I can also see why it could be a splash.

This is my Splash Copper Marans (he has filled out a lot since I took this pic)

This is my Blue Copper Marans